oil leak, camshaft seals.....!

[dan-the-man]

Right i need a bit of feedback for a mate who has a valver, now i know hes had an engine put in it he found second hand and a problem hes having is that the oil is forcing its way past the camshaft oil seals as if over pressuring? He has had new seals put in and the bit reground as when they popped out before the cam wore a grovve so to speak in the metal. But still bloody leaking oil all over the cambelt and and drive belt so every new seal session req these too! sorry its patchy but il see what you lot think and report back what he has to say. his pc is down so thats why im doing it for him.



cheers dan

 

[BenR]

The mechanic most probably pushed the cam seal all the way back in its seat, instead of leaving it flush with the head face and having a space behind the seal.

 

[JAY172]

if the vehicle has done a lot of mileage it would be an idea to fit the seal very slightly further in than the original so the seal doesnt run on the same place on the cam. if the crankcase is over pressurising then it would leak past weaker areas first like the dipstick or crankcase breather system. very unlikely that it would blow past a cam seal first. what exactly has he had reground? never had to do anything like that before just for a oil leak.

 

[dan-the-man]

Hes not sure but the cam had wore a groove or summat as had moved? needs to speak to mechanic to get better story. he says it didnt leak until he topped oil up to under max but not over as when checked was at half so did the done thing. but now it leaks whatver oil amount is in the engine.

cheers dan (on behalf of shaun sheep)

 

[BenR]

Groove in what exactly?

 

[JAY172]

you say he has had a part reground. well surely that will be thinner now but the new seal wont be any bigger to compensate. the amount may be small but it might be enough to cause the oil leak. in the case where you think the seal may have caused slight wear on a cam etc you just refit the new seal slightly further in so it doesnt run where the old seal did if you see what i mean.

 

[dan-the-man]

yeah i thought all that too, reground like? i thought well it must have gone bigger etc as less metal. will tell him and see what gets sorted . cheers.

im the same too, weel hard work when u get half a story!!! dtm